Distributing virtual items for collection in the real world

ABSTRACT

A system and method for distributing virtual items for collection by a user device in the real world are provided. One embodiment of a method includes sending a notification to a user device indicating availability of a virtual item, the virtual item configured to be available to the user device when the user device is determined to be proximate to one or more real world geolocations associated with the virtual item. The method provides for determining that the user device is proximate to the one or more geolocations and for providing information related to the virtual item so as to enable viewing of at least a portion of the virtual item. The method also provides sending an activated version of the virtual item to the user device when predetermined conditions associated with viewing the virtual item have been met.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a Continuation Application under 35 U.S.C. § 120 ofU.S. application Ser. No. 12/275,127, entitled “MODIFYING VIRTUAL ITEMSTATES IN CONJUNCTION WITH DIGITAL BROADCAST,” and filed on Nov. 20,2008, which is herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This invention relates to broadcasting virtual items, and specificallyto broadcasting virtual items based on a virtual items association witha physical world location.

BACKGROUND

As digital multimedia accelerates into the mainstream, more and morepeople rely on this multimedia as a daily form of entertainment. Fromvideo clips to music videos to TV shows and movies, a wide range ofmultimedia can be found being accessed all around the world through theInternet, television, radio, etc.

Digital multimedia is often combined with interactive forms ofentertaining involving virtual worlds. A virtual world is a simulatedenvironment in which users may interact with each other via one or morecomputer processors. Users may appear on a video screen in the form ofrepresentations referred to as avatars. The degree of interactionbetween the avatars and the simulated environment is implemented by oneor more computer applications that govern such interactions as simulatedphysics, exchange of information between users, and the like. The natureof interactions among users of the virtual world is often limited by theconstraints of the system implementing the virtual world.

With many countries mandating a change from the presentation ofmultimedia with an analog signal format to a new digital format, morebroadcaster-user systems have become available for users to obtaindifferent forms of multimedia. It is within this context thatembodiments of the current invention arise.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and systems fordistributing virtual items for collection in the real world. It shouldbe appreciated that the present disclosure can be implemented innumerous ways, such as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device or amethod on a computer readable medium. Several inventive embodiments ofthe present disclosure are described below.

In certain embodiments, a method may include operations for sending anotification to a user device indicating that availability of a virtualitem, the virtual item configured to be available to the user devicewhen the user device is determined to be proximate to one or more realworld geolocations associated with the virtual item. In these and otherembodiments, the method may also include operations for determining, bythe one or more servers, that the user device is proximate to the one ormore geolocations associated with the virtual item for providing, by theone or more servers to the user device, information related to thevirtual item when the user device is determined to be proximate to theone or more geolocations associated with the virtual item so as toenable viewing of at least a portion of the virtual item. The method mayfurther include operations for receiving, at the one or more serversfrom the user device, an indication that a predetermined condition hasbeen met associated with the viewing of the one or more the portions ofthe virtual item in order to cause activation of the virtual item.Moreover, according to some embodiments, the method may includeoperations for sending, by the one or more servers to the user device,an activated version of the virtual item for access by the user device.

Other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent from the followingdetailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A schematically illustrates an example of modifying a virtual itemstate in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a flow diagram depicting an example of broadcasting virtualitem state information in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a more specific example illustrating broadcastinginformation related to virtual item states that may be facilitated byembodiments of the present invention

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a broadcast environment in whichembodiments of the present invention may be employed.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of modifying a virtualitem state from the perspective of a percipient user of a receivingdevice.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1A schematically illustrates an example of modifying a virtual itemstate in conjunction with a digital broadcast signal in accordance withan embodiment of the invention. Preferably the digital broadcast signalis of a type that can be received by a mobile or handheld (M/H) digitalbroadcast receiving devices. Operation of a method for broadcastingvirtual item information may be implemented by the server 101 asdepicted in FIG. 1B. The server 101 may send information relating to oneor more virtual items 109 to the broadcast unit 103 as indicated at 121.The broadcast unit may then broadcast the virtual item information as abroadcast signal 105 as indicated at 123. Receivers 107 may receive theinformation and modify portions of the information. Modifications toselected portions the virtual item information may then be sent back tothe server 101 via a backchannel 108. The server 101 may receive themodifications as indicated at 125 and generate modified virtual iteminformation as indicated at 127. The modified virtual item informationmay then be sent to the broadcast unit 103 for transmission.

As used herein, a virtual item refers to an item that is defined interms of computer-readable data embodied in some computer readablemedium such as a computer memory or digital data storage device. Avirtual item may distinguished from a real or physical item in that avirtual item may be transmitted electronically and normally requires theassistance of some electronic device capable of interpretingcomputer-readable information and converting the information to someform that is perceivable by a living percipient. A real or physicalitem, by contrast requires no such interpretation of computer-readableinformation in order to be similarly perceived. It is noted that thesole act of illuminating an object so that it can be seen, without more,does not constitute “assistance of some electronic device” for thepurposes of this application.

Each virtual item 109 have an associated state 111 defined by one ormore criteria that including position information 113 which is relatedto both the virtual item and a particular location in the physicalworld. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, informationrelated to a virtual item 109 associated with a certain region of thephysical world, may only be transmitted to or received by thosereceiving devices that are presently within a region of the physicalworld that is within sufficient proximity to the particular location,and not to receiving devices that are outside of that region of thephysical world. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, thereceiving device may be configured, e.g., by suitable computerprogramming or hardware configuration to refrain from providing certaininformation relating to a virtual item 109 until the receiving device107 determines that it is within sufficient proximity to the particularlocation associated with the virtual item 109. The receiving device 107may be equipped with a suitable position locating device, such as a GPSreceiver, to facilitate determination of the location of the receivingdevice. The receiving device 107 may compare its location, as determinedfrom the position locating device, against the positional information113 associated with the virtual item.

Once the receiving device 107 extracts information relating to a virtualitem from the broadcast signal 105 leaving the broadcast tower 103, auser of the receiving device 107 may then selectively perceive andmanipulate that information using the receiving device 107.

By way of example, the digital broadcast signal 105 may be a modulatedradiation signal transmitted from a broadcast transmitter 105, e.g., inthe form of an over-the-air broadcast, such as by a radio-frequencyelectromagnetic wave signal. Alternatively, embodiments of the inventionmay be used in conjunction with digital broadcasts transmitted overmedia such as cable (e.g., coaxial cable), optical fiber, or satellitetransmission.

By way of example, the digital broadcast signal may be configured inaccordance with a digital broadcast standard. Examples of digitalbroadcast standards include, but are not limited to, the Digital VideoBroadcasting (DVB) family of standards maintained in Europe andAustralia, the Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) family ofstandards developed for use in the United States and Canada, theIntegrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB) family of standardsdeveloped for use in Japan, and the Digital Multimedia Broadcasting(DMB) standard used in South Korea.

The DVB family of standards includes the DVB-S and DVB-S2 standards forsatellite television, the DVB-T and DVB-T2 standards for terrestrialtelevision, the DVB-C standard for cable televisions, the DVB-H standardfor mobile television, and other DVB standards, which have been or maybe developed. The ATSC family of standards includes the ATSC standardfor terrestrial television broadcasts and the ATSC M/H standard forbroadcasts to mobile and handheld devices. The IDSB family of standardsincludes the ISDB-S, ISDB-T, and ISDB-C standards, which were developedfor satellite, terrestrial, and cable television respectively.

By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the digital broadcastsignal may be configured according to the ATSC or ATSC-M/H standards.The ATSC standard is described in detail, e.g., in “ATSC DigitalTelevision Standard Part 1—Digital Television System” (A/53, Part1:2007), “ATSC Digital Television Standard Part 2—RF/Transmission SystemCharacteristics” (A/53, Part 2:2007), and “ATSC Digital TelevisionStandard Part 3—Service Multiplex and Transport SubsystemCharacteristics” (A/53, Part 3, 2007), the disclosures of all three ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference. The ATSC Data BroadcastStandard is described, e.g., in (ATSC Recommended Practice:Implementation Guidelines for the ATSC Data Broadcast Standard (Doc.A/90)”, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The receiving device 107 may select information relating to one or morevirtual items 109 from the broadcast signals 105 for the receivingdevice 107 to process. In some embodiments, the receiving device 107 maybe configured to present information relating to one or more virtualitems 109 based on one or more pre-determined conditions in addition toproximity to the particular location in the physical world. Suchpre-determined conditions may include, but are not limited to aparticular time of day, a particular user profile, a particularpredetermined state of the virtual item, storage of certainpredetermined information in the receiving device, or the performance ofone or more predetermined actions by the user with the receiving device.

Once a virtual item 109 has been selected, the user may interact withthe virtual item 109 and modify its state using the receiving device107. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the receivingdevice 107 may generate or modify information relating to the virtualitem 109 in a way that results in a modified state 111′ of the virtualitem 109. Information relating to the modified state 111′ may betransmitted back to the server 101 via the receiving device 107. Theserver 101 may then save the modified state 111′ of the virtual item andinclude information relating to the modified state in subsequentbroadcast signals 105. By way of example and not by way of limitation,the new state 111′ may be saved to the server 101 when the percipientuser of the receiving device 107 leaves the physical location associatedwith the virtual item 109. Alternatively, the new state may be savedwhen the user gains access to a network through the receiving device107.

FIG. 2 illustrates a more specific example of modifying virtual itemstates that may be facilitated by embodiments of the present invention.By way of example, and not by way of limitation, a multi-user gamesimilar to a game of “capture the flag” may be implemented usingembodiments of the present invention. In this example, a server 201stores information regarding a virtual “flag” 209. The virtual “flag”209 has a virtual state 211 that includes information relating to aphysical world location 213 associated with it. Initially, the state 211of the virtual “flag” 209 may be inactive if users of the game have yetto initiate game play. The “flag” 209 may have a starting physicallocation tag 213, which is marked X in FIG. 2.

The server 201 sends information relating to this virtual “flag” 209 tothe broadcast tower 203, which broadcasts this information via abroadcast signal 205. Because the virtual “flag” 209 is tagged with aphysical world location X, the virtual “flag” 209 need not be broadcastto every physical location, but instead may be broadcast to a localizedarea 215 proximate the physical location X associated with the “flag”209. Once the percipient users of the receiving devices 207A come withinthis localized area 215, they become capable of receiving informationregarding this virtual “flag” 209. However, if the percipient user ofthe receiving device 207B lies outside the localized area 215 associatedwith the virtual “flag” 209, the virtual “flag” 209 along with its state211 and physical world location 213 is not presented to that user. It isthen up to the percipient user of the receiving device 207B to becomephysically present within the localized area 215 of the virtual “flag”209 before he can receive information regarding this virtual “flag” 209.

The receiving device 207B may not present the information for any numberof reasons. For example, the broadcasting tower 203 may be one of aplurality of towers in different locations that broadcast over limitedregions. The information relating to the virtual flag may only bebroadcast to a tower or towers whose broadcast regions include thelocation of the virtual flag 209. If device 207B is located outside ofthese broadcast regions it simply doesn't receive information relatingto the virtual flag 209. Alternatively, the receiving device 207B may beconfigured to present the information relating to the virtual flag onlywhen the receiving device is within the localized area 215 associatedwith the virtual flag. The receiving devices may each be configured withsuitable position locating means and computational capabilities in orderto determine whether or not a receiving device is within the localizedarea.

As soon as the first receiving device 207A becomes physically present atthe physical world location X of the virtual “flag” 209, he is allowedto pick up this virtual “flag” 209 and modify it accordingly. First thestate 211 of the virtual “flag” 209 may automatically change frominactive to active, allowing users within the localized area 209 tobecome aware of the new state 209 of the virtual “flag” 209 via updatessent by the server 201 through the broadcast tower 203 via broadcastsignal 205. The user who picked up the virtual “flag” 209 may have anopportunity to move this virtual “flag” 209 to a different physicallocation by physically moving his receiving device 207A with informationrelating to the virtual “flag” 209 stored in it to another physicallocation. This information may be transmitted back to the server 201 viaa backchannel 208.

At this point, the user's receiving device 209 may make note of the newphysical location of the virtual “flag” and will relay this informationto the server 201. The server 201 may store this information, update thestate 211 and physical world location 213 of the virtual “flag” 209, andbroadcast this updated information to another localized area proximatethe new physical world location of the virtual “flag” 209. This processmay repeat itself until the game has been completed.

By way of example, and not by way of limitation, other applications thatmay make use of embodiments of the present invention include photosharing, virtual “graffiti”, virtual geo-caching, and virtual scavengerhunts that are tied to advertising. Photo sharing may involve storing auser's photos from a particular physical location (e.g., The Golden GateBridge) in the form of a virtual item. For example, each percipient userof a receiving device who is present at the Golden Gate Bridge may besent a virtual item via a broadcast signal from a broadcast towercontaining previous photos from other percipient users of receivingdevices that were present and took photos at the Golden Gate Bridge. Theuser of a receiving device that is currently located at the Golden GateBridge may then have the opportunity to update the state of the virtualitem by linking his own pictures taken at the Golden Gate Bridge to thisvirtual item. Thus, future users of receiving devices who become presentat the Golden Gate Bridge are able to view these photos as part of thevirtual item being sent by broadcast towers in that area.

Virtual “graffiti” may involve the ability to create personal imprintsat a physical location via a virtual item. For example, a user of areceiving device may come into proximity to a particular location, suchas a famous building or landmark. A virtual item may be associated withthat particular location and information relating to that virtual itemmay be broadcast to the vicinity of the location. The user of areceiving device that receives the information may then select thevirtual item and change the virtual item's state. This state change mayinvolve virtually writing something on this location (e.g. Person A washere) such that future users of receiving devices who come across thisparticular location may receive a virtual item with Person A′s virtual“graffiti”.

Virtual geo-caching may utilize a virtual item instead of a physicalcache containing real items. Conventional geocaching is an outdoortreasure-hunting game in which participants typically use a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques tohide and seek containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere inthe world. A typical cache is often a small waterproof containercontaining a logbook and “treasure,” usually toys or trinkets of littlevalue. A person finding the cache typically signs his name or otherwisenotes his finding of the cache in the logbook. A pencil is oftenincluded in the cache for this purpose. In virtual geo-caching, bycontrast, information relating to the virtual item may be broadcast tothe vicinity of a physical world location and presented by a receivingdevice when the receiving device is in sufficient proximity to thatlocation. The user may then modify the information using the receivingdevice. The virtual cache information may include a logbook. A userfinding the cache may enter information regarding his finding of thecache into the logbook via the receiving device.

In some embodiments, virtual scavenger hunts may be tied to advertisingcoupons. For example, several virtual items, each representing a portionof an advertising coupon (e.g., a coupon for free soda from a store orrestaurant) may be distributed to users of receiving devices from aserver via broadcast signals. In addition to being a portion of the fulladvertising coupon, these virtual items may also contain additionalclues as to the remaining virtual items needed to complete the fulladvertising coupon. Users of receiving devices present in a localizedarea proximate the virtual item (e.g., the localized area where thevirtual item is being broadcast) may select the virtual item and storeit in their receiving device. Once the user of the receiving device hascollected all virtual items associated with portions of the fulladvertising coupon, the receiving device may present the user of thereceiving device with the full advertising coupon that may be then beredeemed. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the couponmay include a bar code that is presented on a visible display screenaffiliated with the receiving device. A merchant may scan the bar codewith a bar code reader to redeem the coupon. Alternatively, the couponmay be redeemed through a wireless personal area network transceiveraffiliated with the receiving device and a corresponding device operatedby the merchant.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an example of a broadcast environmentin which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.Servers 301 may receive or generate input data 335 associated withvirtual items. This input data 335 may be associated with a virtual item309. Each virtual item contains a state 311 and a physical location tag313. The server 301 may collect certain information relating to thevirtual item 309, its state 311 and associated physical location tag 313into a digital broadcast data stream, which may be converted to adigital broadcast signals 305 for reception by digital broadcastreceivers 307. The digital broadcast signals 305 are transmitted to thereceiving devices 307 via broadcast towers 303. It is noted that for thesake of example, two digital broadcast signals are shown as beingtransmitted from different towers. This is not to be construed as alimitation upon any embodiment of the invention. Alternatively, anynumber of different digital broadcast signals may be transmitted fromany number of towers. Furthermore two or more different broadcastsignals may be broadcast simultaneously by the same broadcast tower,e.g., using some multiplexing scheme, such as frequency divisionmultiplexing or time division multiplexing.

By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the digital broadcastsignal 305 may be a modulated radiation signal transmitted from abroadcast tower 303, e.g., in the form of an over-the-air broadcast,such as by a radio frequency electromagnetic wave signal. It is notedthat the digital broadcast signal 305 transmitted by a given broadcasttower 303 may include multiple digital broadcast channels modulated atdifferent carrier signal frequencies. Broadcast towers 303 associatedwith different servers 301 may broadcast over different sets offrequencies. Furthermore, the digital broadcast signal 305 may betransmitted in a form other than an over-the-air broadcast.Alternatively, embodiments of the invention may be used in conjunctionwith digital broadcasts transmitted over media such as cable (e.g.,coaxial cable), optical fiber, or satellite transmission.

The input data 335 may include data from multiple sources. For example,within the server 301 data for different virtual items 333 may be madeup of state and location data. Multiple virtual items 333 may bemultiplexed with each other into the digital broadcast data stream 309.The digital broadcast data stream 309 may include multiple virtual items333 with data representing the virtual item's state and physicallocation. The virtual items 333 that make up the digital broadcast datastream 309 may be subject to data transforms, such as source coding andcompression. As used herein, “source coding and compression” refers tobit rate reduction methods, also known as data compression. The server301 may also include a coder configured to minimize the number of bitsneeded to represent the virtual items.

The server 301 may also subject the digital broadcast data stream 309 toservice and multiplex transport operations. As used herein, “servicemultiplex and transport” includes, but is not limited to, the operationof dividing the digital data stream into “packets” of information, theoperation of uniquely identifying each packet or packet type, and theappropriate methods of multiplexing data stream packets into a singledata stream.

The digital broadcast stream 309 may be converted to a digital broadcastsignal 305 through processes referred to as channel coding andmodulation. The channel coder takes the data bit stream encoded in thedigital broadcast data stream 309 and adds additional information thatcan be used by a receiving device 307 to reconstruct data from thereceived signal, which, due to transmission impairments, may notaccurately represent the transmitted signal. A modulation subsystem (orphysical layer) uses the digital data stream information to modulate thetransmitted signal. By way of example, and not by way of limitation,under the ATSC standard, the modulation subsystem offers two modes. Bothmodes are based on vestigial sideband modulation. One mode is aterrestrial broadcast mode known as 8-VSB. The other is a high data ratemode known as 16-VSB.

A digital broadcast receiving device 307 receives the digital broadcastsignal 305 and extracts the digital broadcast stream 309 includingvirtual items, their state, and information associated with theirphysical location. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, thedigital broadcast receiving device 307 may include a digital receiver315, a processor 321, a memory 323, a display 327, and a data storagedevice 329. The digital broadcast receiving device 307 may be any typeof device capable of receiving and utilizing the digital broadcastsignal 305. By way of example, the digital broadcast receiving device307 may be a digital television set, digital radio receiver, personalcomputer, laptop computer, a mobile or handheld device such as acellular telephone, mobile internet device or mobile digital televisionreceiver. Furthermore, the term digital broadcast receiving deviceencompasses, but is not limited to, “digital media receivers”, GPSdevices, game consoles, portable game devices, home, mobile, or devicesecurity systems, and any combination thereof and including otherdevices for which the broadcast receiving device 307 may be coupled toprovide command and control.

The digital receiver 315 may include one or more tuners 317 and adecoder 319. The tuner(s) 317 may be coupled to an antenna 337 thatreceives the digital broadcast signal 305. The tuner 317 selects one ormore particular frequencies from among the various signals that arepicked up by the antenna 337. The tuner 317 and decoder 319 may extractdata from the digital broadcast signal 305. By way of example the tuner317 and decoder 319 may provide the following functions: demodulation,transport stream demultiplexing, decompression, error correction,analog-to-digital conversion, AV synchronization and media reformattingto fit the specific type of display 327 optimally. As used herein,demodulation refers to the process of transforming the received digitalbroadcast signal 305 into a useable signal from which data may beextracted and/or from which quality images and sound may be produced.

Transport stream demultiplexing may be implemented, e.g., where multipledigital signals are combined and then transmitted from one antennasource to create over the air broadcasts. In such a case, the decoder319 may decode the digital broadcast data stream 309 and convert it to asuitable form for display of a particular virtual item with the display327.

The decoder 319 may implement decompression if the digital broadcastdata stream 309 contains data in compressed form. By way of example, andnot by way of limitation, the tuner 317 may decompress such data, e.g.,by unpacking compressed packets of digital data to their original size.The decoder 319 may also implement error correction to make sure thatany data that is missing from the received digital broadcast signal 305can be corrected. For instance, sometimes interference or a poor-qualitysignal will cause the loss of data information that the tuner 317receives. In such cases, the decoder 319 may perform a number of checksand repair data so that information carried by the digital broadcastsignal 305 may be viewed on the display 327 or data may be utilized bythe processor 321.

The decoder 319 may implement AV synchronization to coordinate audio andvideo signals being displayed on the display 327 in proper time. AVsynchronization ensures that the audio does not lag behind the videothat is being displayed on the display 327 or vice versa, so that bothaudio and video are in sync. Media reformatting allows the display 327to properly display images using the data extracted from the digitalbroadcast signal 305. Media reformatting is important since theformatting of images on different types of displays may differsignificantly according to the technology employed. For example, somedisplays utilize interlaced picture, whereas others utilize aprogressive-scan picture.

Virtual items 333 and any images associated with them may be displayedon the video display 327. By way of example, the display 327 may be anysuitable video and/or audio-visual display compatible with the digitalbroadcast signal 305. By way of example, and not by way of limitation,the display 327 may include a video monitor, such as a cathode ray tube(CRT), plasma display, liquid crystal display (LCD) or organiclight-emitting diode (OLED) display. In addition, the display 327 mayinclude one or more devices for generating audio, e.g., one or morespeakers. In addition, the display 327 may include one or more audiospeakers that produce audible or otherwise detectable sounds.

The processor 321 may be configured to allow the percipient user of thereceiving device 307 to interact with the receiving device 307.Furthermore, the processor may be configured to run softwareapplications, and optimally, an operating system. Such software mayinclude software configured (e.g., by suitable programming) to implementa method for modifying a state of a virtual item 333. An example of sucha method is described below with respect to FIG. 4.

The memory 323 may be coupled to the processor 321 and storeapplications and data for use by the processor 321. The memory 323 maybe in the form of an integrated circuit, e.g., RAM, DRAM, ROM, and thelike.

The receiving device 307 may further include a data storage device 329such as a hard disk drive that provides non-volatile storage forapplications and data. The data storage device 329 may be used fortemporary or long-term storage of files retrieved form a slower datastorage device. By way of example, the data storage device 329 may be afixed disk drive, removable disk drive, flash memory device, or tapedrive. Alternatively, the data storage device 329 may be, e.g., aCD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, UMD, or other optical storage device.

A computer program for implementing a method for modifying a state of avirtual item may be stored in a computer readable medium, such as thememory 323 or data storage device 329 in the form of instructions thatcan be executed on the processor 321. An example of such a method isdescribed below with respect to FIG. 4.

The receiving device 307 may also implement a back channel 331 thatallows information to be sent from the device 307 to a server 301. Theback channel 331 may be used to transmit information relating to amodified state of a virtual item back to the server 301. By way ofexample, and not by way of limitation, the back channel 331 may beimplemented through a digital broadcast signal transmitted from thedevice 307, e.g., via the antenna 337. Alternatively, the back channel331 may be implemented through some other mode of communication such aswireless telephony (e.g., cellular), wireless internet, cable, opticalfiber, and the like.

The selection of digital broadcast data streams 309 may be filtered froma geographic perspective based on device position information. Forexample, in the case of a mobile or hand-held device, informationrelating to a physical world location of the receiver 315 may be used tofilter which virtual items 333 are relevant depending on the location ofthe receiver. To facilitate such functionality, the receiving device 307may include a position location system 325. In some embodiments, thefunction of the position location system 325 may be implemented by oneof the tuners 317 in conjunction with software running on the processor321. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the positionlocation system 325 may determine a position of the receiving device bycomparing time of arrival of position locating signals originating fromsources having known locations. The position locating signals mayoriginate from any suitable broadcast source. By way of example, but notby way of limitation, such broadcast sources may be located on one ormore satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Alternatively, such broadcastsources may include one or more of the broadcast towers 303.

In addition to the components of the receiving device 307 described, areceiving device 307 may include components not shown in FIG. 3. Areceiving device 307 may include well-known support functions such asinput/output (I/O) elements, power supplies (P/S), a clock (CLK), and acache. The receiving device 307 may further comprise of a graphicssubsystem, which may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) andgraphics memory. The graphics memory may include a display memory (e.g.,a frame buffer) used for storing pixel data for each pixel of an outputimage. The graphics memory may be integrated in the same device as theGPU, connected as a separate device with the GPU, and/or implementedwithin the memory. Pixel data may be provided to the graphics memorydirectly from the processor 321. Alternatively, the processor 321 mayprovide the GPU with data and/or instructions defining the desiredoutput images, from which the GPU may generate the pixel data of one ormore output images. The graphics subsystem may periodically output pixeldata for an image from the graphics memory to be displayed on thedisplay device 327.

The components of the receiving device 307 described above may beoperably connected to each other via one or more data buses. Inaddition, the components described above may be implemented in hardware,software, or firmware or some combination of two of more of these.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of modifying a virtualitem state from the perspective of a percipient user of a receivingdevice. A receiving device may receive information relating to one ormore virtual items from a broadcast signal as indicated at 401. Theinformation relating to each virtual item may includes state informationand a location tag associated with the virtual item's physical worldlocation. The receiving device may receive the broadcast signalscontaining the virtual item information when the receiving device comeswithin the range of the broadcast signal as described at 401.Alternatively, the broadcast signals containing the virtual iteminformation may be broadcast over a much wider area and the receivingdevice may receive the information whenever it is in sufficientproximity to a broadcast source to detect and demodulate the signal. Asnoted above, a server may generate the virtual items and convert theminto digital broadcast data streams, which are later converted intodigital broadcast signals to be broadcast via a broadcast tower.

Upon receipt of these digital broadcast signals, a receiving device mayfilter out virtual item information based on physical world location asdescribed at 403. If, for example, a particular virtual item has aphysical world location that is in proximity to the receiving device,and is of particular interest to the percipient user of the receivingdevice, then the receiving device may select the virtual item formodification. Information relating to virtual items may be filteredbased on a physical world location of the receiving device and physicalworld locations associated with the virtual items.

Such filtering may compare the physical world locations associated withthe virtual items against the physical world location of the receivingdevice. If information relating to a particular virtual item is receivedby a receiving device, and the physical world location tag is of alocation not in proximity to the percipient user of the receivingdevice, the receiving device may ignore or otherwise filter out thisinformation from the information received from the digital broadcast. Ifthe receiving device is in sufficient proximity to the physical worldlocation associated with the virtual item, the receiving device maypresent this information on a display device associated with thereceiving device.

Once the receiving device has received a particular virtual item, theuser of the device may modify the virtual item accordingly as indicatedat 405. The user of the device may modify the state of the virtual itemby interacting with the information associated with the selected virtualitem through the receiving device. The user of the receiving device mayalso modify the physical location associated with the virtual item byselecting the virtual item and physically moving the receiving device toa new location before the modified virtual item interacts with theserver again.

Information relating to the modified virtual item state may then be sentback to the server from the receiving device as indicated at 407. Forexample, once the user of the receiving device has modified either thestate of the virtual item or the physical location tag associated withthe virtual item, then the newly updated version of the virtual item issent back to the server to be stored. When the server subsequentlybroadcasts information relating to the virtual item, the modificationsmade by the last user who interacted with the virtual item may beincluded in the broadcast information.

While the above is a complete description of the preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, it is possible to use various alternatives,modifications and equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the presentinvention should be determined not with reference to the abovedescription but should, instead, be determined with reference to theappended claims, along with their full scope of equivalents. Any featuredescribed herein, whether preferred or not, may be combined with anyother feature described herein, whether preferred or not. In the claimsthat follow, the indefinite article “A”, or “An” refers to a quantity ofone or more of the item following the article, except where expresslystated otherwise. The appended claims are not to be interpreted asincluding means-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation isexplicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase “means for”.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for distributing virtual items,comprising: sending, by one or more servers, a notification to a userdevice indicating availability of a virtual item, the virtual itemconfigured to be available to the user device when the user device isdetermined to be proximate to one or more real world geolocationsassociated with the virtual item; determining, by the one or moreservers, that the user device is proximate to the one or moregeolocations associated with the virtual item; providing, by the one ormore servers to the user device, information related to the virtual itemwhen the user device is determined to be proximate to the one or moregeolocations associated with the virtual item so as to enable viewing ofat least a portion of the virtual item; receiving, at the one or moreservers from the user device, an indication that a predeterminedcondition has been met associated with the viewing of the virtual itemin order to cause activation of the virtual item, the predeterminedcondition includes taking a picture of a real world object at the one ormore geolocations associated with the virtual item to cause theactivation of the virtual item; and sending, by the one or more serversto the user device, an activated version of the virtual item for accessby the user device, wherein the activation of the virtual item enablesthe user device to pick up the virtual item for moving the virtual itemto another physical location.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thepredetermined condition includes processing data associated with anaction detected to have been performed on the user device.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein said determining that the device is proximate to theone or more geolocations associated with the virtual item includesprocessing global positioning system (GPS) data received by the userdevice.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined conditionfurther includes processing data to cause a state of the virtual item tochange responsive to data received from the user device.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the information related to the virtual item isconfigured to be manipulated via the user device.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein the virtual item is associated with an advertising couponthat is configured to be redeemable for a good or service uponconfirming activation of the virtual item.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the virtual item is associated with a barcode that isdisplayable on a display associated with the user device, the barcodeconfigured to be scanned.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein one or moreportions of the virtual item are associated with a virtual coupon,wherein the virtual coupon is identified as usable when the user devicereceives data confirming the activation of the virtual item.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the virtual item is unique, and whereinactivation of the virtual item is further configured to exclude otheruser devices from accessing the virtual item.
 10. A method fordistributing virtual items for an application, comprising: receiving aconnection from a user device to access the application; sending, by oneor more servers, information responsive to the connection to a userdevice indicating availability of a virtual item, the virtual itemconfigured to be available to the user device when the user device isdetermined to be proximate to one or more real world geolocationsassociated with the virtual item; providing, by the one or more serversto the user device, information related to the virtual item when theuser device is determined to be proximate to the one or moregeolocations associated with the virtual item so as to enableinteraction with the virtual item; receiving, at the one or more serversfrom the user device, an indication that a predetermined condition hasbeen met associated with the interaction with the virtual item in orderto cause activation of the virtual item, the predetermined conditionincludes taking a picture of a real world object at the one or moregeolocations associated with the virtual item to cause the activation ofthe virtual item; and sending, by the one or more servers to the userdevice, an activated version of the virtual item in the form of a couponfor access by the user device, wherein the activation of the virtualitem enables the user device to pick up the virtual item for moving thevirtual item to another physical location.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the predetermined condition includes processing data associatedwith an action detected to have been performed on the user device. 12.The method of claim 10, wherein global positioning system (GPS) datareceived from the user device is processed to determine that the userdevice is proximate to the one or more geolocations associated with thevirtual item.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the predeterminedcondition further includes processing data to cause a state of thevirtual item to change responsive to data received from the user device.14. The method of claim 10, wherein the information related to thevirtual item is configured to be manipulated via the user device. 15.The method of claim 10, wherein the coupon is configured to beredeemable for a good or service upon action of the virtual item. 16.The method of claim 10, wherein the coupon is associated with a barcodethat is displayable on a display associated with the user device, thebarcode configured to be scanned.
 17. The method of claim 10, whereinone or more portions of the virtual item are associated with respectivecoupon image portions, the coupon associated with the virtual item. 18.The method of claim 10, wherein the virtual item is unique, and whereinthe activation of the virtual item is further configured to excludeother user devices from accessing the virtual item.
 19. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium storing a computer program fordistributing virtual items, the non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium comprising: program instructions for sending, by one or moreservers, a notification to a user device indicating availability of avirtual item, the virtual item configured to be available to the userdevice when the user device is determined to be proximate to one or morereal world geolocations associated with the virtual item; programinstructions for determining, by the one or more servers, that the userdevice is proximate to the one or more geolocations associated with thevirtual item; program instructions for providing, by the one or moreservers to the user device, information related to the virtual item whenthe user device is determined to be proximate to the one or moregeolocations associated with the virtual item so as to enable viewing ofthe virtual item; program instructions for receiving, at the one or moreservers from the user device, an indication that a predeterminedcondition has been met associated with the viewing of the virtual itemin order to cause activation of the virtual item, the predeterminedcondition includes taking a picture of a real world object at the one ormore geolocations associated with the virtual item to cause theactivation of the virtual item; and program instructions for sending, bythe one or more servers to the user device, an activated version of thevirtual item for access by the user device, wherein the activation ofthe virtual item enables the user device to pick up the virtual item formoving the virtual item to another physical location.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 19,wherein the predetermined condition includes processing data associatedwith an action detected to have been performed on the user device. 21.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, whereinthe virtual item is unique, and wherein the activation of the virtualitem is further configured to exclude other user devices from accessingthe virtual item.